Line Project

For our first project, we created abstract, non-representational art to express four different emotions. We were given four square sheets of paper to work with and were given the freedom to use any media to express each emotion. In each piece, I used ribbon and tissue paper in varying ways to depict each feeling.

Anger

My first piece was Anger/Wrath. The red on black with crazy, overlapping lines was meant to express contained wrath in the final moments before it explodes.

Happiness

My second piece was Happiness. With the yellow lace and ribbon on top of the sky blue border, I attempted to showcase a childlike feeling of pure happiness, like the feeling of being outside on a sunny day.

Envy

My next piece represents Envy/Jealousy. With a bright center that gets darker as it spirals outwards, this piece shows that the farther outward you look, the darker it gets. The lesson with this piece: Look within yourself for happiness, and don’t compare yourself to others.

Depression

My last piece represents Sadness/Depression. It’s the kind of sadness that you feel on a rainy day, the kind that makes you want to snuggle into your blankets to find comfort. I used blue, black, and grey lines to represent this feeling.

While conveying four separate emotions through abstract, non-representational art, we focused on the use of line. Within my four pieces, I used actual (as opposed to implied) line in addition to directional line. As my use of line changes from composition to composition, the mood of each piece changes. My first piece, Anger, used overlapping directional lines, shooting out in sporadic ways to represent contained anger that is about to burst. My second piece, Happiness, used lace and ribbon in directional ways to convey contentment, satisfaction, and happiness. My third piece, Envy, used overlapping lines in a sort of birds nest way to display a radial effect, almost chaotically. My last piece, Depression, displayed vertical lines to convey a peaceful sort of sadness. After focusing on the element of line for this project, my idea of line hasn’t changed much. However, it was interesting to learn a little more about actual, implied, calligraphic, and directional line.

Using non-representational art to express ideas was not a new concept for me. It is something that I am fairly comfortable with and enjoy doing. For ideas such as emotions, I love to use non-representational art to express the feelings. I feel that this is the most pure way to express such ideas. While I like creating non-representational art for such abstract ideas, sometimes more complex ideas can be more difficult to express through non-representational art. All in all, I love to use non-representational art to communicate abstract ideas and would most definitely do so again in the future!